1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to nutritional supplements, and more particularly, to a nutritional gel containing creatine and the method of producing the creatine gel.
2. Description of Related Art
Nutritional supplementation is used by many people for a wide variety of reasons, such as improving one's diet, increasing one's exercise output, and preventing various ailments. Recently, one of the most popular supplements is creatine.
Creatine is a nutrient which is found in many foods and is stored within a human body's muscle cells. Creatine is one of the main sources of energy for muscles. Humans receive most of the creatine they need from food or dietary supplements. When a person does not consume enough creatine to meet the body's requirements, creatine production occurs in the liver, pancreas and kidneys.
Creatine is important for providing an energy source for muscular contractions. When a person's muscles contract, the initial fuel source is a chemical compound called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP provides the energy to contract a person's muscles by releasing one of its phosphate molecules. The ATP then converts to another chemical compound, adenosine diphosphate (ADP). The energy produced from the release of the phosphate molecules lasts only about ten seconds, therefore, more ATP must be expended for continued muscle contraction. Creatine provides the source for replacing the missing phosphate molecules for ADP to convert to ATP, thereby providing the energy source necessary for continued muscular activity. Once the creatine provides the phosphate molecule to the ADP compound forming ATP, the newly reformed ATP may be re-used again.
The ability to regenerate ATP depends primarily on the body's supply of creatine. The more creatine available in the person's body, the more ATP remade, and the greater the ability for the person to use his muscles. This greater ability to use one's muscles is highly advantageous to a training athlete. Providing an increased supply of nutrients necessary to expend energy results in greater performance results during training.
Another energy source comes from glycolysis, which forms lactic acid as a by-product. This lactic acid creates the burning sensation a person feels in his muscles during intense exercise. If the amount of lactic acid becomes too great, muscle movement stops. However, when a person continues to use ATP as the primary energy source, other energy sources are minimized, such as from glycolysis. Thus, by using ATP, instead of utilizing the glycolysis process, lactic acid production is minimized, enabling a person to exercise longer and harder.
Therefore, creatine supplementation is very beneficial to a training athlete. Increased performance through creatine dietary supplementation is well known throughout the sports world. However, there are several problems in using creatine. First, creatine converts to creatinine over a period of time. Creatinine cannot be used to supplement the additional phosphate necessary to form ATP, therefore is not a useful supplement. Creatine converts to creatinine at a greater rate when it is mixed with water, or any other soluble liquid. Because of the instability of creatine within liquids, creatine is presently offered to users in only two forms, pills and powder.
Creatine powder has some disadvantages. A user must have a container and some liquid for mixing with the creatine powder. When the user desires to ingest the creatine powder, usually right before exercising, he must mix the creatine powder and the liquid in the container. This process can be time consuming and messy, and may result in spillage during the transfer of the creatine powder into its container.
Creatine pills are not always the optimum method of dietary supplementation. Many people have difficulty swallowing pills. Additionally, if a person chews the pills, the creatine may not be fully absorbed prior to the person commencing exercising. Pills also have the added disadvantage of having a bitter taste.
Although there are no known prior art teachings of a solution to the aforementioned deficiency and shortcoming such as that disclosed herein, a prior art reference that discusses subject matter that bears some relation to matters discussed herein is U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,375 to Sueoka (Sueoka). Sueoka discloses a process for producing a beverage comprising creatine as a main ingredient. The process comprises the steps of heating water rendered weakly alkaline and adding between one and three grams per 100 cc of a crystalline creatine powder to the heated water. Next, the creatine powder is dissolved by stirring the creatine powder into the heated water, forming a creatine aqueous solution. Then an additive is added to the creatine aqueous solution for improving the taste. Finally the creatine aqueous solution is sterilized to obtain a creatine beverage having a pH value between 7 and 10. However, Sueoka merely discloses a creatine liquid. Sueoka does not teach or suggest a creatine supplement which prevents the rapid conversion of creatine to creatinine.
Thus, it would be a distinct advantage to have a creatine supplement which does not quickly convert to creatinine and is easily and conveniently ingested by a person. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a supplement and method of producing it.